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PIB Headquarters
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PIB’S DAILY BULLETIN ON COVID-19

India records highest ever over 4.2 lakh COVID tests in a single day; Nearly 1.6 cr samples tested so far; Sharp decline in Case Fatality Rate to 2.35%
For the first time, a record number of more than 4,20,000 COVID tests have been conducted in a single day. This elevated number comes on the heels of 3,50,000 tests having been done very day consistently over the last one week. With 4,20,898 samples tested in the last 24 hours, the Tests Per Million  has further increased to 11,485 and cumulative testing to 1,58,49,068. Both continue to maintain the upward trend. A strong factor contributing to this achievement is the persistent increase in the number of labs from merely one in January 2020 to 1301 today. Mortality due to COVID-19 has significantly dipped to 2.35% today. India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world. 32,223 COVID patients have recovered in the last 24 hours. The cumulative number of recovered cases has reached 8,49,431 today. The recovery rate has achieved another high of 63.54%. The gap between recovered patients and active COVID-19 cases has further increased to 3,93,360.
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Cabinet Secretary reviews the management of COVID-19 in nine States with high active case load
A graded, proactive, progressive and well coordinated strategy of COVID-19 management between the centre and States/UTs has resulted in ever-increasing Recoveries in the country, with progressively falling Case Fatality Rate. There are, however, some States which have in the recent past shown high rise in daily number of active cases and are emerging as concern areas from COVID management point of view. As part of Centre-State coordinated strategy for effective containment and management of the COVID-19 pandemic, a high level virtual review meeting was chaired by Cabinet Secretary with the Chief Secretaries and Health Secretaries of the nine States that are driving the present spurt of the active caseload in the country. The nine States that participated in the VC include Andhra Pradesh, Bihar, Telangana, Odisha, West Bengal, Assam, Karnataka, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh. The attention of the States was drawn to the fact that early detection and timely clinical management is the key to contain the spread of COVID-19. States were asked to urgently ramp up testing, strictly implement containment plan, augment health infrastructure and ensure effective clinical management
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Finance Minister lauds IT Department for being responsive to people
In her message on the 160th Income Tax Day, Union Minister for Finance & Corporate Affairs Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman appreciated the continuous efforts of the Income-Tax Department towards making the tax administration taxpayer-friendly, transparent and geared towards facilitating voluntary compliance. She recognised the paradigm shift in its role in recent years, from being just a revenue collecting organization to becoming a more citizen-centric organization. The Finance Minister also lauded the Income-Tax Department for being responsive to the needs of the taxpayers during this pandemic time by relaxing various compliance requirements and addressing the liquidity concerns of the taxpayers.
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INDIA-UK affirm shared commitment to a Free Trade Agreement
India and UK held the 14th Joint Economic and Trade Committee meeting yesterday which was co-chaired by Minister for Commerce and Industry Shri Piyush Goyal and UK Secretary of State for International Trade , HE , Ms Elizabeth Truss. They affirmed their shared commitment to a Free Trade Agreement and towards that, Early Harvest deals in a staged manner. MOS Puri and Minister Jayawardena will have monthly meetings to intensify the dialogue. Both sides also resolved to cooperate in health Sector especially in view of the present Pandemic of COVID-19.
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Rapid Regulatory Framework for COVID -19
Department of Biotechnology , Ministry of Science & Technology has been proactively working on the development of Diagnostics, Therapeutics, Drugs and Vaccines to combat the healthcare challenges posed by COVID-19. DBT has also taken several measures to facilitate research-driven and technology-based interventions, on a fast-track mode. As a paramount effort to stimulate and facilitate research and development activity towards combating COVID-19, DBT has evolved a set of Rapid Response Regulatory Frameworks.
INPUTS FROM FIELD OFFICES
- Chandigarh: The Administrator, Chandigarh, directed Police, Revenue and Municipal officials to have more field inspections and check whether the residents are following social distancing norms and mask wearing in markets and other public places like parks, Sukhna Lake etc. The Administrator also directed Commissioner, Municipal Corporation and Deputy Commissioner to conduct surprise checks in various markets. The Administrator warned that in any market, if major violations are found, that particular market could be closed for the safety of residents.
- Punjab: Punjab Government has augmented its Covid care capacity for mild asymptomatic cases, under 60 years of age, with operationalisation of new Level-1 Covid Care Centres  with total capacity of 7520 beds in 10 Districts. Similar centres, with 100 beds each, would be opened soon in the remaining 12 districts. The centres are equipped with excellent bed infrastructure with adequate sanitation and security facilities, which are being monitored by Doctors, Nurses, Pharmacists, Hospital Administrators and Counsellors round the clock. They have all the necessary emergency services such as oxygen, ECG, medical supplies etc.
- Haryana: Haryana Home and Health Minister, Mr. Anil Vij digitally inaugurated a Plasma Bank at Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma Post Graduate Institute of Medical Sciences , Rohtak. The Health Minister informed that after setting up this plasma bank inside the premises of PGIMS, Rohtak, State Government is also planning to open more plasma banks in the State soon. He said that people recovering from COVID-19 infection should donate plasma so that other patients can be treated easily. He said that any person who has been recovered from COVID-19 infection can donate his plasma after 14 days. So far, about 28,000 patients have tested positive for COVID-19 infection in Haryana, of which more than 21,000 have recovered. Such people can now donate their plasma as by donating plasma, atleast two patients can be cured.
- Himachal Pradesh: The Chief Minister directed that appropriate arrangements be made for medical check-ups and providing a balanced diet to the coronavirus patients admitted in the COVID-19 care centres. He said that the quarantine process should be followed properly. It was the responsibility of the management of the units operating in industrial zones to ensure that only those labourers were engaged in the work who have gone through the quarantine process.
- Madhya Pradesh: The state Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan has tested positive for Covid-19. He said he will be on self-quarantine and will get treatment according to government guidelines; has appealed to all those who came in contact with him to get tested for the disease and quarantine themselves. MP recorded 736 new positive cases taking the tally to 26,210 out of which 7,553 are active cases.
- Maharashtra: The Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray today said that he is not in favour of complete lifting of the Covid-induced lockdown in the state only to address the economic concerns. He said there is a need to strike a balance between the issues related to health and economy considering the challenge posed by the pandemic. With 9,615 new cases reported during the past 24 hours, the total number of cases in Maharashtra has reached 3.57 lakhs. Of these, the number of active cases is 1.43 lakhs. Nagpur is observing a two day Janata Curfew on Saturday and Sunday.
- Gujarat: The state of Gujarat on Friday recorded 1,068 COVID-19 cases and 26 deaths. The State’s fatality count has reached 2,283, while the case load surged to 53,631.There are now 12,518 active cases, including 83 patients who are surviving with ventilator support.
- Rajasthan: 557 new positive cases have been reported today morning. This takes the state tally of COVID-19 to 34,735.While there are 9029 active cases in the state now, the total recoveries have increased to 24,657 and the death toll is 608.
- Chhattisgarh: A record high 426 new positive cases have been reported on Friday in Chhattisgarh. Raipur alone reported 164 new positive cases, followed by Rajnandgaon  and Durg . Now the state tally of COVID-19 stands at 6,819 while the total number of active cases is 2,216.
- Goa: The count of new positive cases was 190 on Friday. As a result, the state tally of COVID-19 has gone up to 4,540. However, with 210 recoveries on Friday, the total number of active cases stands at 1,675.
- Arunachal Pradesh: In Arunachal Pradesh's Kurum Kume district the Deputy Commissioner distributed foot operated sanitising machine to be installed at all the government offices in the district to control the spread of covid-19. Arunachal Pradesh Government offered to train the medical teams of the Army and paramilitary forces in conducting rapid antigen /RT-PCR and Tru-Nat testing.
- Manipur: In Manipur with the detection of the cases with no travel history at Thoubal district, health authorities have started door to door rapid antigen testing of suspected cases who had close contact with known COVID-19 positive patients.
- Nagaland: In Nagaland, Dimapur district administration has ordered the sealing of the Office of the General Manager of NST Dimapur to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and ordered the sealing of Railway Parcel Section Office, Railway Union Employees Colony and General Railway Police DS Flat.
- Sikkim: In Sikkim one doctor of New STNM hospital in Gangtok emergency ward tested positive. Emergency ward is contained for a week and Manipal Central Referral Hospital will cater emergency health service till then.
- Kerala: Four persons who died in Kerala have been confirmed with the virus. The fatalities occurred in Ernakulam, Kannur, Palakkad and Wayanad. This has taken the state’s Covid death toll to 58. As the number of COVID-19 cases is increasing in Kozhikode, the authorities assume that the district could witness 4,000 patients in the next few weeks. Forty students who wrote the Kerala Engineering, Agricultural and Medical Entrance Exam  at a Centre in Palakkad district, have been put under observation following a teacher who was invigilating the exam tested positive. 885 new active Covid-19 cases were confirmed in the state yesterday. 9,371 people are undergoing treatment and 1.56 lakh are under surveillance across the state.
- Tamil Nadu: 139 fresh cases of Covid-19 reported in Puducherry; total cases rose to 2654, active cases to 2055 and deaths to 38 in the UT. Puducherry Legislative Assembly session to be conducted in open space after MLA tests positive for Covid-19. Govt follows WHO protocol, doesn’t hide Covid death toll, says Revenue Minister as he responded to DMK chief Stalin’s allegations against State government. TN had new high of 6785 new cases yesterday along with 88 deaths. 1110 cases from Chennai. Total cases till yesterday: 1,99,749; Active cases: 53,132; Deaths: 3320; Active cases in Chennai: 13,743.
- Karnataka: Centre advises Karnataka, 8 other states to ramp up tests. To meet the shortage of staff for testing, Medical Education Minister Dr. Sudhakar directed the officials to utilize final year students for Covid duties. Along with direct recruitment, the final year students of Lab technician courses, Science students of RGUHS and volunteers will be given proper training before assigning Covid duties to them. 5007 new cases, 2037 discharges & 110 deaths reported yesterday; 2267 cases in Bangalore city. Total cases: 85,870; Active cases: 52,791; Deaths: 1724.
- Andhra Pradesh: Two prison inmates infected with Covid-19 have escaped from the Eluru CRR Covid care centre in the wee hours of July 25. It is said that 13 prisoners from West Godavari jail, who were infected with the dreaded Covid-19 virus were admitted to the Eluru Covid care centre. Taking advantage of this, the two prisoners have escaped from the centre. Kurnool State Kovid Hospital has successfully performed Plasma therapy on a covid positive patient. District Collector said Plasma therapy was provided to five patients and so far, four of them are recovered. State Board of Intermediate Education has sought suggestions from the parents, teachers, students and educationists regarding the reopening of schools and reduction in syllabus. 8147 new cases and 49 deaths reported yesterday. Total cases: 80,858; Active cases: 39,990; Deaths: 933.
- Telangana: IT and Industries Minister KT Rama Rao said that the pharmaceutical industry based out of Telangana is making rapid strides in tackling Covid-19 by coming out with life-saving drugs, including Remdesivir and Favipiravir. 1640 new cases, 1007 recoveries & 08 deaths reported yesterday; out of 1640 cases, 683 cases reported from GHMC. Total cases 52,466; Active cases: 11,677; Deaths 455; Discharges: 40,334.